Washington Capitals

The usual suspects — Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Brent Burns — lead the Sharks in scoring through the first three games of the season. But scanning a little further down the scoring list reveals one key reason why the Sharks are off to a 3-0 start.

*Depth forwards Matt Nieto, Barclay Goodrow, Chris Tierney are among a group of players that all have two points and made other contributions.

*(Corrected from earlier — Mike Brown has one point).

Nieto had two points against the Capitals as he and linemates Tommy Wingels and Tomas Hertl had their best game of the year, Tierney and Goodrow have formed a solid penalty kill duo and Brown made a nice play and scored a key goal against Washington. Brown also turned the tide in the season opener against Los Angeles the Sharks turn around the game against Los Angeles with a fight against Kyle Clifford.

The Sharks did not have to deal with Alex Ovechkin on Tuesday night, as the Washington Capitals announced roughly 45 minutes before game time that their captain would be out of the lineup for personal reasons.

Capitals coach Barry Trotz said earlier Tuesday that Ovechkin was a game time decision after the three-time Hart Trophy winner missed the morning skate.

Ovechkin has 11 points in 13 career games against the Sharks, including four points in two games last season. The Sharks beat the Capitals 6-5 in a shootout in Washington last October, but the Capitals won 5-4 in San Jose in overtime on a goal by Joel Ward.